The Meet Cutes
by lanie-love09
Summary: This will be a companion story to Pandemic. It'll contains chapters of missions and other interactions that led to the Richonne relationship in Pandemic.
1. Chapter 1: Is She Coming

_**It was mandatory that all DoD officers and J.S.O.C agents that weren't on assignment attend the annual winter ball held in downtown Alexandria,Virginia.**_

 _ **Rick would've normally attended with Lori but now that they were separated and on their way to the finalizing of their divorce he attended with extremely high hopes of seeing a rookie agent that he'd only worked with a few times before;**_

 _ **But the agent left more than a lasting impression on him.**_

At the conclusion of the Secretary of the State's presentation on the DoD's achievements that year, the lights slowly begin to brighten the luxury ballroom. The events had no less than 200-300 people from all positions in the Pentagon as well as all branches of the military.

It's a black tie affair, Rick's dressed in a proper black tuxedo with a fresh shave and haircut. It's only been 2 hours and the evening's really dragging along for him.

Talking with attendees around the table didn't interest him, he didn't know any of them personally and they didn't know him which is what he prefers.

He's never been much of a talker, except with Shane who ended up on assignment that evening.

Rick casually walked around the entire ballroom twice looking for the agent however; by the second walk around a couple of young women started thinking he was checking them.

As most of Rick's table steps away to the dance floor; he calls a waiter over and orders a shot of Jamesons, "No ice please", hoping to mask his disappointment.

The last time he saw her was 6 weeks ago when the two were working on an assignment in Laos with Sgt. Daryl Dixon from the U.S. Marine Corp.

The three worked well together on the assignment, everyone knew their place within the mission. When one of them said they could deliver on something they were always able to do it with little to no assistance from the other two.

He stares at a sea of people mingling with one another.

The only reason for events such as this, was so defense contractors could make business connections within the federal government.

Rick's been working there long enough to know that lavish events paid by the government were for the purposes of back room deals.

A few minutes later, the waiter comes back and sets two shots of Jamesons in front of Rick, "I had only asked for one" he says pulling out a $5 spot to tip the waiter.

"Yes sir, the other shot is from the woman at the bar."

Rick instantly begins to smile at the prospect of knowing who ordered his second shot.

He switches the $5 spot to a 20 to give to the waiter then stands up looking over at the bar for the rookie agent.

He quickly downs one of the shots, grabs the other and starts making his way to the bar.

Once there, he glances at the people drinking and laughing, at the end of the bar he sees the two young women from earlier.

They raise their drinks at Rick.

He nods his head and drinks the shot.

After realizing who sent him the shot, he decides to order a couple more.

Before leaving the ballroom; Rick grabs a full glass of champagne from the champagne table and takes another look around the place for the agent.

He quietly sips the cool bitter champagne as well as his disappointment of the agent's no show while aimlessly wandering down the dolled up hotel hallway.

About halfway down Rick stops to gaze at a larger than life painting. It's a historic painting of the Alexandria Harbor.

There's nothing special about the painting, the activity of the ships and people on the docks are quite detailed and the colors are as vibrant as if standing on the actual dock back in time

But still; Rick gazes at the oddity of the painting.

He sips more of the champagne believing he's feeling those Jamesons shots to stare at a painting for more than three minutes.

A soft females voice from behind asks, "What do you think?"

The voice warms Rick's chest and body as he realizes that the rookie agent Michonne Carter, is standing directly behind him.

"Can't really say to be honest…but there's something missing".

"Hmm…perhaps it's the large open landscape beyond the harbor. Maybe the artist should've placed some activity there as well.

They probably painted it from a room overseeing the entire harbor", the agent replies.

Agent Carter whispers in his ear, "I bet there's a room in this hotel with the same exact view."

"Maybe-", Rick turns around and sees Michonne silently walking away.

His heart begins to race as he watches her walking down the hallway, her locs are wrapped in a regal bun with one loc dangling from the side of her face.

She's wearing a emerald green dress, its strapless with a medium size slit at the bottom showing off her black open-toed heels.

He instantly wants her naked with one of her legs with the heels on, over his shoulders.

* * *

There's no official rule in the DoD about agents becoming romantically involved with one another however, it is frowned upon.

So much so that if the hire ups become aware they'll make sure never to place the two individuals on missions together, conflicts of interests is what they call it.

Rick walks in to the lobby and over to the self-guest check in.

He types in his name and to his surprise there's a reservation in the system for him. He slides his credit card and out pops a hotel room key card.

* * *

Rick walks in to the hotel room and its dark with the exception of city and harbor lights coming from the three large windows.

He walks over to one of the windows and sure enough the view's an exact replica of the painting, but this view of the harbor has urban skyline instead of farms and fields.

The view is memorizing, not so much because of what he's seeing but because Michonne has such exquisite taste.

He removes his bow tie and places it on the table then removes his tuxedo jacket and places it on the chair.

There's a bucket full of ice and a bottle of champagne on the table with two glasses.

Rick snickers to himself as he pops the bottle open.

* * *

As soon as Rick finishes filling the glasses with champagne he hears a key card unlocking the door.

Michonne walks in using her back to close the door.

She sighs heavily walking over to the table, "This job is never-ending isn't it", throwing a file folder on the table.

Rick hands her a glass of champagne, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

She smirks, "I suppose so."

"Where's Dale sending you this time", he grabs his glass and walks over to the edge of the bed.

He sets his glass down on the floor then lays back on to the bed.

Michonne walks over to Rick, "You know I'm not gonna tell you that."

He places his hand underneath her dress, "Hey, hey…", he turns Michonne around to face him.

"You know…", he grabs the glass out of her hand and places it next to his, the street light capturing his face.

He longingly rubs his forehead against her dress, gradually moving his hands up the side of her legs to her hips, "I will find and extract you from anywhere."

His hands finally make their way up to her hips brazening the spaghetti thin straps of her underwear.

She longingly runs her fingers through his hair, "How's Carl and Judith?"

"They're good, I had them all to myself last week…", he snickers gradually pulling down her panties.

Michonne gently bits her bottom lip and closes her eyes falling in to the sensation of his hands gripping her ass.

He looks up at her, licking his lips in awe of her arousal, "How long do we have?"

"A…about 36 hours", she moans.

Rick lifts each one of her legs to remove her panties then stands up to slowly kiss her while unzipping the back of her dress.

Once her dress falls to the floor, he begins rubbing her nipples with his thumb, "I was just about to leave when you saw me downstairs in the hallway. I didn't think you were coming", he whispers.

He turns her around and lays her down on the bed.

Again, he licks his lips at the site of Michonne's naked body being illuminated by the urban lights shining in through the window.

His wants from earlier was about to come true.

She begins to lift her leg to take off her heels while he begins to unbutton his shirt but, he stops her from taking them off, "Nope, I want them on tonight."

She smiles as he starts kneeling down in between her legs.

"I felt so bad for you", he confesses while placing one of her legs over his shoulder.

Rick pulls her hips to the edge of the bed and begins thumb massaging her soaking wet bundle of nerves.

Every stroke of his thumb sends Michonne in to an erotic blissful state,"Wh…why", she heavily moans.

Rick leans in and gradually circles her clit with his tongue, "Because I want you cumming every night".


	2. Chapter 2: No good deed

**Hey everyone!**

 **This is one of many chapters that illustrate the beginning relationship between Rick and Michonne in the my story, "Pandemic".**

 **It will also give some detail in to riff between Shane and Rick prior to the tragic events of Lori and Judith.**

 **As always thank you for reading, muah!**

* * *

"God damn it Dale", Rick slams his hand down on the desk, "I'm married!"

"Are ya Rick? Cause last I heard you had a different address than Lori and the kids." Dale snaps back.

Rick sharply points his finger at Dale, "Fuck you Dale. That shit is none of your business. Keep your shit heel goons out my personal business".

"Watch it Rick, don't forget your speaking to a higher ranking officer", Dale reminds him.

He turns his back to Dale with a belittling wave.

"Dale, you understand this makes no sense right", he sighs sitting down in one of the chairs across from Dale's desk.

"I'm seriously. Being punished for refusing to 'sleep with' Senator Anderson's wife. You know this right?"

Dale rustles some papers around his desk then places both arms a top clasping his hand together

"Between you, me and Jesse Anderson? Yes.

But, you know how this game is played Rick? You been in it for long enough now.

These bureaucrats", he raises both eyebrows as a reminder, "and their wives, get just about anything they want."

He pulls out a manila file throwing it toward the center edge of his desk, "Just be happy that she didn't accuse you of something that could damage your career."

Rick reluctantly leans forward snatching the file from his desk.

"Just think of it like taking a…" Dale searches for the right word and tone, "an all-expense paid training retreat. Where you're the trainer".

Dale smiles like he's about to burst in to hysterical laughter.

Rick flips through the pages of the file, "I don't like training or babysitting rookies Dale, you know this".

He glances at the location of the mission, "Sinaloa, Mexico? Who got caught up in that mess with the federation this time?"

Dale stand up behind his desk.

"Custom agents think they have a solid case against Salazar, but there's an informant who's stuck in Salazar's work village. We have agents down there already waiting for orders to get him and his family out but they feel better about the informant's chances if they had a senior agent down there running the operation."

"Dale? An Easter egg hunt, man? You and I both know Salazar never goes to his work villages. Especially the one he was born in.

He's weird".

Rick leans back in the chair exasperated at the tedious nature of the mission.

"Salazar loves year around cold weather. That's why he hides out in the Canadian mountains somewhere."

"Like I said he's a weirdo considering…", Rick pauses his train of thought as he turn the page to a picture of the rookie.

"Oh come on Dale", he slaps the file on his leg.

In his final agitation Rick stands up, "The girl…", he refers to the file for the name, "Mi-chonne?

She's got the face of a God damn angel? No one's gonna buy that she's working for us."

Dale smiles and Rick's smitten annoyance.

"That's the point. Ms. Carter has a criminal & a U.S. Customs law degree. And she's interested in working for us."

He walks over to Rick, patting him on the back moving ushering him towards the office door, "She perfect."

She past all the psychological test. She was the top in her class with firearms and melee weapons.

We want more like her. No family, she's intelligent, ambitious...",

Dale slowly pushes him towards the door, "…and the fact that she has the face of an angel? Well, that's what I like to call cosmic justice."

He opens the door for Rick.

"Look, Rick I'm trying to make this as painless as possible just do the damn mission please?"

He gently pushes Rick out of his office, "Believe me it could've been worse."

* * *

Rick passes by Shane in the hallway. He clearly frustrated at the assignment and Shane knows it.

Shane wrinkles his brow as he walks up on Rick.

"Hey, wants the problem man?"

Rick looks up at hi slowly, "That detail is 'Quietly" accusing me of some shit."

"Damn man! Dale isn't buying that shit is he?" Shane asks.

" No. But he got me going on a silent hiatus until all this shit subsides", Rick looks over his buddy.

"How's everything with you? You seems in high spirits."

Shane tones down his contentment, "Nothing. You know me. Same ol, same ol."

Rick's put off for some reason by Shane's response but attributes to his own annoyance with the rookie mission.

"Cool, I'll catch you down stairs then."

Shane knocks on the door of Dale's office.

"Come in" a voice yells from behind the door.

He walks in to the office, closing the door behind him.

As Shane walks over to a chair Dale throws all his papers from off the desk at Shane in a rage.

"What the hell's going on Shane? One minute you're going to Rick's bbq's, the next minute you're helping him move in to an apartment. Next minute we spot you hanging at Lori's the weekend that Rick has the kids at his apartment!"


	3. Chapter 3 The New Fish

Rick arrives at the Costa Rica, Airport, 50 miles from The Floating House Villa in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica.

The villa is the perfect location for the surveillance of the Rancho Quemado, the cocaine processing plant masquerading as a sugar cane mill.

The Floating House Villa is a series of bamboo-walled treehouses connected by flying bridges overlooking the canopy of the Costa Rican jungle.

The house is made up of three pods, connected by bridges and walkway. A 24m corridor connects the open air bamboo lined master bedroom and 2 second bedroom on the top floor. All three bedrooms have wooden concertina shutters that open to the wrap around wood terrace, perfect for surveillance of the mill and a warehouse connected to a small air strip.

On the first floor is a full kitchen complete with a breakfast bar and center island, eight seat dining room table and a living room.

Rick doesn't have his head in mission at the moment, he's tired and weary from the long flight as well as the argument he'd had with Lori the night before.

She complained about missing his weekend with the kids and how this was exactly why she wanted the separation in the first place.

After explaining that he didn't know how long he's be gone she yells in to the phone, "You've always put your job before your family", ending the call before Rick could respond.

Nonetheless, Rick places a request for an Uber to take to him to the villa.

 _ **The Uber arrives a few minutes later**_

After placing his bags in the trunk of the Uber he plops down in the back seat closing the door behind him ready to erase everything Lori said about him as a father and a husband.

The ride's bumpy but not enough to keep Rick from dozing off.

The rest of the team arrived at the villa a few days ago touching base with the informant and his family setting up camera's and bugs around the tiny town of Baila, the closest town within walking distance of the mill as well as preparing the villa for stakeout operation.

Rick wakes up a few minutes before arriving at the villa, he sits straight up in the seat putting his sunglasses on. The road leading up to the villa sort of winds up hill leveling off at the walkway to the garage.

Rick removes his bags from the trunk and the driver pull off.

He walks closer to the open garage and spots Cody doing bench presses in the exercise room.

Cody was the IT tech on the mission.

"You still pressing 150lb", Rick asks.

Cody looks up at Rick, "I'm sure I can bench press your scrawny ass Grimes."

The two embrace like brothers in arms.

Cody gives Rick a quick one over, How ya' doin man? It been a minute since we worked together."

"Yeah it has." Rick admits.

"How's Lori and the kids? Good?"

Rick didn't feel like going in to the whole ordeal so he grins and bares it, "They're good, everybody's real good. What about you? When you gonna settle down, man?"

Cody wraps an arm around Rick's should leading the two of them towards the steps to go up to the first floor.

"You now Rick I was asking myself that same question about a month ago when I went on a date with a women that lives across the street from me back home, her names Isabella.

She's fucking gorgeous, she's a chef at a high-end restaurant…"

They finally make it to the first floor then continue to the wrap around terrace. Cody with his arm still round Rick's shoulder, "…someday she wants to own a restaurant. Real ambitious, you know", they stop walking when they're only few feet terrace edge.

He removes his arm standing in front of Rick, "…I'm like you know what? I think I could settle down with this woman. I mean she could be 'The one', right?"

Rick grimaces waiting for the punchline however, Cody doesn't have one.

He pursed his lips together then urges Rick to look over the edge of the terrace.

The two watch as a dark mahogany brown skin woman wearing a shimmering gold bikini performs laps in the infinity pool below.

They stare as the clear water glides off her chocolate curves with each and every long stroke she takes to get to one end of the pool.

Cody gently smacks Rick on the back, "I tell you Rick, the universe must hate me. There's absolutely no earthly reason for a woman that beautiful and regal to be anywhere near this mission, unless it's to taught every single man in a 5 mile radius."

He looks direct across the way at the other agents, (one being female) staring at the woman in the pool from their terrace. Cody step behind Rick and silently gestures for them to stop staring and get back to work.

Walking away to check the calibration of some equipment Cody says, "You're lucky to be a happily married man Rick, you don't have to deal with temptations like that anymore."

Cody finishes with the calibration but Rick's still watching the woman swim in utter amazement.

"She's the new fish, Michonne Carter", he walks back over to the terrace edge, "…but I've never met a rookie like her. She's…", Cody gets caught up in staring again and becomes speechless.

But Rick finishes his sentence for him, "She's marvelous."

"Yes. Yes she is marvelous", Cody repeats. "Come on Grimes let me show you where you'll be staying."

Rick slowly turns away from the terrace with his heart racing faster than normal, he knew it. He could already feel bias of opinion creeping in to his head.

There's absolutely no way he would allow Agent Carter get caught up in any part of this mission that had the potential of becoming life threatening.


End file.
